A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake jolted central Chile at 22:37:04 GMT on Sunday and the Chilean authorities have ordered for evacuation of people from low-lying coastal areas.

A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake jolted central Chile at 22:37:04 GMT on?March 25,?2012. [Xinhua]

The earthquake did not have "the conditions needed to generate a tsunami," according to the Chile's National Emergency Bureau (Onemi).

The Onemi report was based on official data from the Chilean Army's Oceanographic Service (Shoa), Xinhua reported.

Onemi originally called for a preventative evacuation of the coast between the towns of Valparaiso and Biobio, but cancelled the warning after receiving information from Shoa.

The quake hit offshore Maule at 18:37 local time (2237 GMT) with its epicenter at a depth of 10 km.

In 2010, an 8.8-magnitude quake, which hit off the coast of central Chile, triggered a tsunami that devastated several small coastal towns.